1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods associated with commercial transactions involving requests for proposals and/or pricing and the receipt of proposals and/or pricing from vendors. The present invention relates more specifically to an online system for buyers to submit requests for proposals to a multitude of identified and selected vendors and to receive proposals in return from the vendors.
2. Description of the Related Art
A well-established process for initiating commercial transactions involves a potential buyer creating what is known as a request for proposal or a request for pricing (RFP) and identifying one or more potential vendors to direct the request to. Traditionally, such procedures have involved creating a written document (the RFP) and mailing the same to any of a number of possible appropriate vendors who then review the written document and prepare a proposal or price quote in return. Such a proposal or price quote is typically also a written document that is mailed back to the prospective buyer, along with any information that might influence the buyer's decision. The buyer may then wait a period of time until a sufficient number of proposals have been received to permit a decision to be made regarding the transaction. Once the buyer has reviewed the various proposals and the information provided by the vendors, a choice is made with respect to a specific vendor and a purchase order is issued.
This basic process, though well-established in the commercial field, involves time-consuming efforts, not only in the transmittal of documents back and forth between the buyer and prospective vendors, but also in the process of research and selection of the specific vendors to whom the RFP is directed. A significant amount of time is involved in reviewing materials, both prior to directing an RFP to a potential vendor and further reviewing materials after a proposal has been received. It is not unusual for the process to take days, weeks, or even months when significant quantities and costs of products are involved.
Some efforts have been made with the advent of commercial transactions occurring over wide area computer networks and the like to facilitate the process of identifying and matching buyers with appropriate sellers of goods and services. In most cases the effort in this area has focused on providing online catalogs for vendors to present their product information to prospective buyers. The process whereby a buyer offers a request for proposal or pricing is by its nature more difficult to implement in an online environment.
While some success has been realized through vendors offering their catalogs and a description of their services online, the process relies completely on external search engines or the like to direct a potential buyer to the vendors' catalogs and services description. While many search engines are capable of directing buyers to appropriate potential vendors, the process remains time-consuming and imperfect at best. The buyer must still ultimately review one by one the vendors' catalogs or descriptions to determine whether an appropriate match with the buyer's requirements exists. In many respects, such an online system of catalogs and the like merely shortens the amount of time it takes for the buyer to acquire information from vendors, and does not reduce the amount of time that the buyer is required to review the material received from the vendors.
Online commercial transactions have developed rapidly over the last five years and have created many new approaches to putting together buyers and sellers. An example of one such new approach involves a type of reverse auction arrangement whereby a buyer identifies a particular product or service desired and the price he or she is willing to pay. Prospective sellers may then review these bids and determine whether any such bids are appropriate for matching with an offer for goods or services. Other online transactional methods have been described in a number of recent patents. These include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,156 entitled Interactive Market Management System issued to Shavit, et al on Jan. 17, 1989. This patent describes a system for interactive online electronic communications and processing of business transactions between a plurality of different users, including sellers and buyers as well as financial institutions and freight service providers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,327 entitled Electronic Requisition and Authorization Process issued to Gardner, et al. on May 26, 1998. This patent describes a method of electronic requisition processing that includes storing company-specific requisition rules and an electronic catalog on a central computer system. A requester at one of the companies may identify one or more items to be ordered, followed by authorization of the purchase of a number of items. Purchase orders are generated and transmitted to vendors electronically.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,475 entitled Electronic Procurement System and Method for Trading Partners issued to Barnes, et al. on Oct. 18, 1999. This patent describes an electronic commerce system that enables corporate purchasers and suppliers to electronically transact for the purchase and supply of goods and services. An automated clearinghouse server is used to interface the various components of the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,375 entitled Computer-Assisted Systems for Interactively Brokering Goods or Services Between Buyers and Sellers issued to Salmon, et al. on Jan. 7, 1997. This patent describes a computer-implemented system for brokering transactions between sellers and a buyer of goods or services that includes databases which contain information descriptive of the company's goods or services. The buyer's interface provides a knowledge-based, interactive protocol that enables the buyer to select and review the descriptive information from the seller's database.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,551 entitled Computer Integration Network for Channeling Customer Orders Through a Centralized Computer to Various Suppliers issued to Doyle, et al. on Dec. 2, 1997. This patent describes an electronic requisitioning system for channeling customer requisition orders to internal suppliers and to outside vendors. The customers access electronic item catalogs and the requisition form to place the order, which is transmitted to a central computer system. Requisitions are segregated by supplier and sent as purchase orders directly.
Most of the above systems fall short of methods that would involve the issuance of requests for proposals and/or pricing and require the buyer to specifically identify the vendors to which an authorized purchase order or purchase request is directed. It would be desirable to have a system whereby a prospective buyer could direct a request for proposal to an automatically selected group of appropriate potential vendors without the need for significant review of the materials and information provided by the vendors. It would be desirable if a prospective buyer could complete and define a single RFP document and transmit the document to a system that would automatically identify appropriate vendors in a database and thereafter automatically forward the RFP document to the vendors for review and response. It would be desirable if the vendors could choose to transmit responses for review and consideration to the prospective buyer, typically by email protocols or by sending their responses back through the system which could then receive responses and proposals from the selected vendors and which in turn may be transmitted to the prospective buyer for review and consideration.